Scientists have linked the quality of nutrition with epigenetic signs of aging
Scientists have found a link between healthy eating patterns and slower changes associated with biological aging. The researchers analyzed data from approximately 7.5 thousand adults and studied changes in DNA methylation associated with ten healthy eating options. About how the diet can be related to the biological aging of the body, see the "Izvestia" material.
How nutrition is related to biological aging
The study was conducted by specialists from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. The results are published in the journal Nature Communications. The main analysis was carried out on the data of 6470 people living in the Bonn area. The results were then tested on an independent group of 1,034 people.
The researchers assessed how well each participant's diet corresponded to different eating patterns, and then compared these indicators with markers of epigenetic aging. We are not talking about a person's age in calendar years, but about changes in the body that can be assessed by certain molecular features.
As a result, higher adherence to all studied healthy eating patterns was associated with lower rates of epigenetic aging. At the same time, the severity of the relationship differed between the individual diet options.
What diets have you studied?
The researchers examined 10 nutrition quality indicators. Among them were the Mediterranean diet, the Scandinavian diet, DASH, MIND, the plant-based diet, as well as other models focused on eating foods that are considered beneficial to health. Less healthy plant-based food options and a diet with a high proportion of foods associated with inflammatory processes were analyzed separately.
Participants could simultaneously match several food models. At the same time, the intersection of people who were in the top quarter in terms of adherence to different diets turned out to be small. This means that the studied models did differ in the composition of the diet, although their healthier variants were associated with a similar direction of changes in epigenetic parameters.
DASH and the Scandinavian diet were most consistently associated with the three used indicators of epigenetic aging. However, the authors did not consider this as a reason to single out one specific nutrition model: the differences between diets in terms of the magnitude of the identified relationships were relatively small.
Monique Breteler, Director of the Department of Health Sciences at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Head of the Rhine Research
Our study shows that a healthy diet slows down biological aging. The effect is not very significant, but it is measurable and important for prevention. By slowing down the aging process, you can reduce the risk of age-related diseases such as dementia or cardiovascular disorders. Thus, a healthy diet promotes healthy aging.
What happened to the DNA
To assess biological aging, scientists used three epigenetic indicators. They are based on the analysis of DNA methylation, chemical changes that can affect the activity of genes and change with age.
The researchers analyzed about 850 thousand DNA sections. Different dietary patterns revealed their own sets of methylation changes, but more than 70% of the affected biological pathways intersected. They were mainly related to cellular structure, signal transmission, and metabolism.
Some changes were typical for individual models. In particular, with higher adherence to DASH, changes in pathways related to heart function were found, and for MIND, pathways related to cognitive functions and memory. These results show differences between diets at the molecular level, but by themselves do not prove the effect of specific changes on the corresponding diseases or body functions.
Juliana Tavares, PhD student at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and lead author of the study
Although there are measurable differences between diets, they are insignificant in absolute terms. The big picture is important. To summarize: when it comes to slowing down the aging process, there is not one healthy diet, but a whole set of possible diets that have a positive effect.
Why don't scientists single out one diet?
The authors of the study note that the results indicate a general relationship between nutritional quality and epigenetic signs of aging, rather than the existence of a single optimal diet. Different dietary patterns have different compositions, but the DNA changes associated with them largely converge on the same biological processes.
Monique Breteler
It is important to note that there probably is no one "right" diet. According to our data, various eating habits are associated with slowing down aging — to a greater extent, to a lesser extent. This is an encouraging conclusion, as it leaves the opportunity to adapt healthy eating to personal and cultural preferences, budget, and taste preferences.
At the same time, the study is observational in nature. The scientists did not assign specific diets to the participants and did not track how dietary changes directly affected the rate of aging. Therefore, the results show a statistical relationship between nutritional quality and epigenetic markers, but do not prove a causal relationship.
In addition, biological aging was assessed by molecular parameters, rather than directly by life expectancy or disease frequency. Further research is needed to determine how these changes relate to the actual risk of age-related diseases and healthy life expectancy.
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